Gov. Dave Heineman and Attorney General Jon Bruning announced new legislation Monday that would eliminate automatic "good time" credit for inmates convicted of violent crimes.

The proposal instead calls for the idea of "earned time" credit to replace the "good time" credit automatically received by Nebraska inmates.

"It is time to eliminate automatic ‘good time' creditfor the most violent inmates," Heineman said. "The safety of our citizensshould be priority number one and that starts with violent criminals beingrequired to earn any reduction in their sentence, rather than automaticallyreceiving it."

The "earned time" bill would require violent inmates to maintain good behavior while incarcerated and participate in rehabilitation programs.

Under the proposal, violent crimes would include murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery and a few other crimes.

Under current law, inmates sentenced by thejudicial system to serve terms with the Nebraska Department of CorrectionalServices automatically have their sentenced reduced by half for their term ofincarceration.

"Many Nebraskans are unaware ofthe automatic sentence reductions under ‘good time,'" said Heineman. "They believe that when ajudge sentences someone to 20 years that means the person would serve 20 years,not 10 years, which is the reality under current law."

The legislation will be introduced during the current2014 Legislative Session by State Senator Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha.

"The current ‘good time' law has been in place forover two decades without serious change," said State Sen. Lautenbaugh. "Giventhe recent high profile criminal events in the past year, I believe Nebraskanswant and expect the Legislature to change the current ‘good time' law."

The proposal was partly inspired by the case of Nikko Jenkins, who is accused of four Omaha-area murders after his release from prison.

In an effort to reform the "good time" credit further, last month the governor signed rules and regulationsrelated to the Department of Correctional Services and the administration of"good time" credit.

The new rule allows for corrections officials to take awaytwice as much "good time" for misbehavior, including assaults on correctionsofficials and other prisoners. The new maximum penalty allows for up to twoyears, instead of one year, of "good time" loss for inmates.